Late Tuesday night, David asked me if I would join him in San Francisco while he worked on his robot exhibit for the Exploratorium. So Wednesday morning I packed up the Goat and took the worse flight I have ever had in my life.You folks that bitch about having to ride on an airplane with a baby can just suck my balls! It is way worse for the mother of the brat who is throwing an endless temper tantrum. Have you ever tried to break up a dog fight, or otherwise wrestle a wild animal with all of your body strength? That is what it is like to try to force an angry toddler to sit in your lap for any amount of time. I am covered in bruises from his protest. And I have never seen Zeno act like that. It was weird, and embarrassing. When we finally arrived in SF, David's Exploratorium friends picked us up, and since we were hungry, thought we should go to "Junk Yard Barbecue", to which I replied "Is barbecue safe in San Francisco?". This was, in fact, a junk yard. A real junk yard. And through the maze of old rusty parts of anything from old irons to bicycles, we alas came to a hibachi with an assortment of gutter punks sittin' around, drinkin' "Blue Ribbon" (or the like) and cookin' dogs. It was an amazing experience. These guys were so hospitable. I didn't eat a dog, but I drank beer with these guys and did the junk yard scene for a while. I really loved it. Zeno went crazy. He was right at home there. I think I will run away from home and live in a junk yard, where I can make stuff. Zeno got his first spankin':Exploratorium is really cool. If you ever have the chance you should go.

This afternoon, the "Film Diva" from the museum, gave me a special screening of the film (the museum's nice 16mm print) from 1905 "A Trip Down Market Street". Zeno and I had the whole theatre to ourselves, and watched this American treasure. A camera was mounted to a trolley and just went down the street. You see the chaos of no traffic lights, and cars, horse drawn buggies, bicycles, buses, and trolleys. The people are walking around in their fine clothing, and everyone is wearing a stylish hat. It was all I could do not to cry! You know the movie was filmed about 6 months or so before the Great Earthquake. If anyone is curious, I picked up a copy of the DVD from the museum shop. It has a centennial bonus feature where they took a camera to a modern trolley and went up the same Market Street path, and filmed it as it is today. I am excited to watch it!Tonight, we are meeting up with David's crazy circus friends, the Exploratorium guy, and my high-school sweetheart Logan.

airplane

little stinker! Toddlers are fickle, but they mostly all eat. Yes, get them on the plane and open up endless food items, keep feeding them. Juice too if you can bring it on the plane. Think almost twice the ammount of food Zeno would normally eat. End the mega meal with a special item if you dare and ply that kid with juice or water. Fill him up, pray he sleeps from all the food! (I swear it has worked!) Oh and have something yummy with a straw for him to drink during takeoff, that helps relieve the pressure. Also, even if you haven't paid for a seat for him, you can sometimes bring your carseat to the gate and ask the steward(ess) if you can bring it on the plane for him to sit on. The flight crew is way more likely to give in to this request than the desk ho. (they want your kid to be less of a drain on the entire plane) Then, you can play, "we are riding in the car/airplane".

Re: airplane

i know what you are talking about with the food! I brought a large ziplock baggie full of smaller bags of snacks, and he enjoyed exploring the snack bag and eating all the little treats. He was interested in the different types of containers, opening and closing them, as well as the fruits or nuts within. It went on for a long time, and bought me about 93 minutes of peace. I will work on perfecting this technique since you mention it as a thang. And i will try the car seat thing next time. It seems that his personal space being larger is part of the deal.

Re: airplane

Oh, just try not to use too many 'bad' foods, you don't want to deal with a tummy ache later! Just tasty keep him eating stuff. I hope Papa is on the flight home with you! (they don't seem to appreciate it until it's them!)Too bad you probably can't bring Rescue Me on the plane. Are you guys coming down to Austin anytime in the near future?